The sad background to this story is the serious narcotics problem we are experiencing in Canada. There have been a lot of deaths from overdoses. A pet mouse ate some heroin so the owner rushed it to a Harm Reduction Centre. The mouse was in pretty bad shape, but the centre does have the drug that reverses a narcotics over dose. They managed to treat the mouse and it has made a good recovery.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0
That is a pretty good save when you think that they are not trained to treat mice. A vet might not have been prepared to treat a heroin over dose.
I guess it was all in a days work at the crisis centre.
An amazing story. I have never taken any drugs (not even cannabis as a student!) and never felt the desire to do so. Life is a challenge and not always easy - but that's why we're here, to face these challenges and not escape them.
I'm sure that Tobi will have some wise words on this topic. Her experience in such areas is, I'm sure, much greater than mine.
If people must take drugs, they deserve our sympathy, but also they need help to escape the downward spiral. The young lady who volunteered at the centre mentioned in the article deserves a medal. Not only did she save a mouse who was affected (not part of the standard brief) but was also recovering from pneumonia herself at the time.
This part of the article really sums up the important point to be learnt:
"People need to know to be careful with their drugs around children and pets," Blyth said. "Drugs and kids and pets are really just not good."
Oh I am so glad to hear that this little mouse was saved.
And what impresses me tremendously is that the mouse's human/s did this for it, poor little thing. If it ate Heroin, then those people presumably had to have Heroin in the house. Users can often be quite 'out of it', but their speedy response helped their beloved pet. Good job done!
In response to LPC....I did try Cannabis when I was younger. All it did was make me feel mighty queasy! That was it for me. No fun. People laughed at me but someone said I was "born stoned anyway, so that's why it didn't suit me!" LOL
I would never dream of trying any other 'recreational drug'. I am hoping that when the time comes that I may need Morphine, it will be a good friend to me, which I am sure will happen.
Blessings dear little Mouse. It's great how much your people love you and how you could be saved. Happy days!
The various drug crisis centres are doing their jobs. The woman just instinctively rushed her pet mouse to a crisis centre.
I am impressed with their response, but of course they exist to help people who use drugs.
LPC, you are quite right that the key message is how dangerous drugs are around kids and pets.
It would only take a small amount of heroin to harm a child or pet. We are having enough trouble with addicts getting harmed by their own drugs.
I do distinguish between the serious drugs like heroin and fentanyl that are addictive and Cannabis which is used recreationally and medicinally. I just find cannabis makes me feel euphoric and a bit silly. That is no big deal, but I am not really good the next day. I don't like the euphoric feeling and I hate losing the next day. I don't have that kind of time. Pot is useful when someone has some serious health issues and needs to take something regularly. It is a better option than narcotics. It is better to keep the stronger narcotics for medical emergencies. They lose their effect if you take them all the time and it is too easy to accidentally take an overdose.
Pot isn't safe for pets under uncontrolled circumstances. It just wouldn't have the same effect as heroin. It is amazing that they saved the mouse. There is some talk of using cannabis to treat dogs for certain conditions, but that is a whole different topic for discussion.
Other drugs that are out there are too dangerous for our pets and way to dangerous for us. I never considered even trying them.